1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to holders of accessories for electronic equipment, specifically to devices for holding a TV guidebook and a plurality of remote control (RC) units for controlling electronic equipment, such as television receivers, video cassette recorders (VCRs), audio receivers, etc.
2. Description Of Prior Art
In recent years, remote-controllable (rc) entertainment and other electronic appliances, such as televisions, VCRs, audio receivers, etc., have proliferated. Each of these appliances can be controlled (turned on and off, programmed, tuned, etc.) by a remote-control (RC) device, which usually is a small box with an infra-red transmiter inside and various switches on a top surface thereof for controlling the transmitter and causing it to transmit selected codes to the appliance.
Users of such appliances usually keep their RCs on a low table in front of a sofa, on an arm of a sofa, on a bedside night table, on a bed headboard, etc. However when a user owns several rc appliances, such as a TV, a VCR, an audio receiver, etc., he or she also must use and store a respective number of RCs. Storing or keeping several RCs in any of the foregoing places thus became difficult since the units can be mixed, disorganized, lost under other equipment, sofa cushions, books, papers, etc.
In addition, users of such RCs usually keep a schedule of entertainment programs and other reference material, such as a television guidebook, a cable TV guide, etc., near their RCs. The need to store these written reference materials, in addition to the RCs themselves, compounds the problem of the previous paragraph.
Various devices for holding RCs are available, but these all have certain drawbacks. Rogalski, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,660,792 (1987) shows an RC holder, but this device is not capable of holding RCs of various sizes. Butler, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,739,897 (1988) shows a boxlike RC holder, as do others, but these devices are large, awkward, and is inconvenient to use quickly and easily. Butler, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,686,745 (1987) also shows a two-RC holder, but this device must be flipped to be used, and does not handle reference materials. Striplin, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,712,693 (1987) shows a three-RC holder, but this device is also large, awkward, and inconvenient to use quickly and easily. Ferrante, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,815,683 (1989) shows an RC holder which can be attached to the side of a TV, but this device will not store the RCs in a place which is convenient for the user.